What is Dota? A brief intro for the Dota clueless

Dota is an acronym for "Defense of the Ancients." It is a game based off of Warcraft 3, which allows players to create their own unique custom games. Years ago people started making these Dota maps but the one that became more prominent and rose to the top was Dota Allstars, currently developed by IceFrog. He updates the game regularly by adding new content and fixing bugs and whatnot.

Dota Allstars

Dota is a kind RTS or real time strategy game. Unlike most RTS games though, in Dota you are only in control of your one hero. When a game begins you can choose from around 100 different heroes. Once you've chosen, it's up to you and your 4 teammates (in a 5 v 5 match) to eventually reach into your opponent's base and destroy their heavily protected Ancient. 

Dota map layout

 The Sentinel team starts in their base on the bottom left side while the Scourge team starts on the opposite top right side. There are three main lanes which must be overseen; top, middle and bottom. Each side periodically generates some basic AI minions or creeps, as they are called in-game. These creeps follow each lane towards the opposing base until they encounter the creeps from the other team. It is up to the heroes then, to influence the outcome and help push their side forward. The farther you venture in to enemy territory the harder it gets since you come up enemy towers which are strong buildings and can deal a lot of damage, especially earlier in the game. Eventually though, it is necessary to push one or more of these lanes all the way back in to the enemy's base so you can reach and destroy their Ancient, thus winning game.